Mechanics Of Wonder: The Creation Of The Idea Of Science Fiction

Author: Gary Westfahl

Another collection of essays and reviews, but Joanna Russ was a very different reviewer from Gary Wolfe. She was excoriating, merciless in the way she would decry any failing no matter how august the writer. She was also, through her fiction (The Female Man) and her non-fiction (How to Suppress Women's Writing) one of the most important and uncompromising voices in feminist science fiction. You have to read Joanna Russ, full stop. She was one of the few essential writers that science fiction has produced, and there are several books we could recommend here, Magic Mommas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans & Perverts or To Write Like a Woman, for instance. But this is probably the best place to start, the best place to get a taste of her voice and her opinions. And those opinions come across loud and clear in these reviews. Brusque, never prepared to accept fools, always ready to point out where a good writer has produced nonsense, this collection is a heady brew. You'll enjoy it! Because you have to read Joanna Russ, and because this is as good a place to start as you're likely to find.